Refined row guidance parameterization with Hough transform

ABSTRACT

Systems and techniques for refined row guidance parameterization with Hough transform are described herein. An electronic representation of a field (ERF) can be received. A steering variable calculation can be performed by executing a cascaded Hough transform on the ERF. An intermediate value used in calculating the steering variable can be selected. A refined intermediate value can be identified from the intermediate value by measuring a difference between the intermediate value and an anchor value. The steering variable calculation can be adjusted using the refined intermediate value.

CLAIM OF PRIORITY

This patent application claims the benefit of priority, under 35 U.S.C.§119, to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/991,065, titled“REFINED ROW GUIDANCE PARAMETERIZATION WITH HOUGH TRANSFORM” and filedon May 9, 2014, the entirety of which is hereby incorporated byreference herein.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Embodiments described herein generally relate automated agriculturalvehicle control and more specifically to refined row guidanceparameterization with Hough transform.

BACKGROUND

Many crops that are farmed are row crops. Row crops are arranged intorows that are generally equally spaced parallel rows in a fieldseparated by furrows. Tending row crops generally involves passingagricultural equipment (e.g., tractors, planters, harvesters,irrigators, fertilizers, etc.) over the field. Generally, theagricultural equipment should follow the rows such that supportstructures (e.g., wheels, treads, skids, etc.) remain in the furrows soas not to damage the crops. Further, equipment dealing directly with thecrops should follow the centerline of the crop rows.

Navigation systems using an external location mechanism have beenemployed to facilitate automatic navigation of agricultural equipment.These systems include using global position system (GPS) units to locatethe position of agricultural equipment with respect to crop rows.Generally, these systems use an initialization operation to determinepositions through which the agricultural equipment should pass and thenprovide information about the current position of agricultural equipmentin a field in order to facilitate navigation. An example initializationoperation can include using a GPS unit to record the movement ofagricultural equipment as the row crops are planted. This recording canlater be used to guide the agricultural equipment for subsequentoperations.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the drawings, which are not necessarily drawn to scale, like numeralsmay describe similar components in different views. Like numerals havingdifferent letter suffixes may represent different instances of similarcomponents. The drawings illustrate generally, by way of example, butnot by way of limitation, various embodiments discussed in the presentdocument.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a system for refined row guidanceparameterization with Hough transform, according to an embodiment.

FIGS. 2A and 2B illustrate two perspectives of a vehicle in a field androw guidance parameters, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of an electronic representation of a fieldused for row guidance parameterization with Hough transform, accordingto an embodiment.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a Hough transform parameter space forcrop rows, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example of determined crop row lines superimposedon an electronic representation of a field, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example of a Hough transform parameter space forfurrows, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example of determined furrow lines superimposed onan electronic representation of a field, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example of a Hough transform parameter space ofthe Hough transform spaces for crops and furrows, according to anembodiment.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example of determined crop row lines, furrowlines, and vanishing point superimposed on an electronic representationof a field, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 10 illustrates an example of determining a distance between acurrent vanishing point and combination of previous vanishing.

FIG. 11 illustrates an example of cross-track distance normalization,according to an embodiment.

FIG. 12 illustrates an example of mousetail analysis to refine rowguidance parameterization.

FIG. 13 illustrates an example of a method for row guidanceparameterization with Hough transform, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 14 illustrates an example of a method for determining a cross-trackdistance, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 15 illustrates an example of a method for refined row guidanceparameterization with Hough transform, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 16 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a machine uponwhich one or more embodiments can be implemented.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Although modern GPS navigation can be highly accurate, it requires theinitialization operation to have been performed. In cases where the rowlocations were not recorded at planting, or where this data isunavailable (e.g., lost or corrupted), the initialization operationneeds to be performed (e.g., again or for the first time) prior to usingGPS. Traditionally, the initialization operation has been performed by ahuman operator controlling the agricultural equipment and recordingpositioning data. Using a human operator to guide the agriculturalequipment can be a tedious job requiring a skilled operator; all factorsthat can lead to errors and higher costs.

Computer vision can be used to guide agricultural equipment down thecrop rows. A computer vision navigation system generally involves asensor, such as a camera, mounted on the agricultural equipment tocollect features (e.g., of the crop rows or furrows) of the environment.These features can be used to ascertain agricultural equipment positionrelative to row or furrow positions and provide that information asvariables to a steering module to control the agricultural equipment.One problem that can arise is a zigzag effect where the agriculturalequipment moves towards the target row and passes over it only to turnback towards the row and pass over it again. This situation occursbecause the angle at which the agricultural equipment approaches thetarget row is not considered in the steering calculations. Another issuethat can arise in computer vision navigation systems can includeselecting another row as a target row when the current target row isinterrupted (e.g., is broken or not continuous to the sensor at a givenpoint).

Determining two guidance variables can address the previously mentionedproblems with computer vision navigation systems: track-angle error andcross-track distance. Track-angle error involves the angle between theforward direction of the agricultural equipment and the rows such that,when the agricultural equipment is following the rows, the track-angleerror is 0°, and when the agricultural equipment is moving perpendicularto the rows, the track-angle error is 90°. Accordingly, the track-angleerror can be considered the current angle-of-attack for agriculturalequipment moving towards a given row. The computer vision navigationsystem sensor data causes the generally parallel crop rows or furrows toappear to converge at a vanishing point on the horizon. This vanishingpoint can be used with the current orientation of the agriculturalequipment to determine the track-angle error.

A slope-intercept Hough transform (SLIHT) can be used to determine thevanishing point from crop row or furrow features captured by the sensor.The original Hough transform uses a parameter space with a slope of aline on one axis and an intercept of a line in a second axis where aline is expressed as y=mx+b, where m is the slope and b is the xintercept of the line in a Cartesian coordinate system. For example,each image pixel whose color matches that of the straight lines sought,may lie on any of a number of possible lines represented in theparameter space by their slope and intercept parameters. These lines maybe identified by computing for each possible intercept value in theparameter space of the slope of a line from that intercept to the pixelunder consideration. Additionally, or alternatively, for each possibleslope value, the value may be computed at which a line of that slopewould intercept the image axis. For example, slope parameters in theparameter space can be used in conjunction with the pixel to determinecorresponding intercept parameters in the parameter space. For each suchline, the value of that line in the parameter space is incremented.Thus, pixels from the image can contribute to numerous parameter spacepositions (e.g., a single pixel can cause several parameter spacecoordinates to be incremented). However, when several pixels fall on aline in the image, the corresponding parameter space position for thatline is incremented for each of those pixels. Accordingly, thatparameter space position will have a higher value than other parameterspace positions that represent lines that are not found in the image.

Once all the image pixels of the color sought have contributed to theparameter-space accumulation, the parameter space can be analyzed todetermine lines that are represented by the pixels in the image. Theselines appear as peaks (points with high incrementation relative to otherpoints) in the parameter space due to the cumulative effect of beingincremented for each pixel lying on the line. A problem naively applyingthe original Hough transform originates with the rise in unboundedparameter values in assessing vertical lines, as found when followingcrop rows. A solution to this problem is to use polar coordinates asparameters. Using polar coordinates, however, introduces greatercomputational complexity and thus cost. Instead, the original Houghtransform can be modified to address the vertical line issue presentedin following crop rows by reformulating the parameters from

$\frac{\mathbb{d}y}{\mathbb{d}x}$and a y intercept to a slope of

$\frac{\mathbb{d}x}{\mathbb{d}y}$and an x intercept; i.e., the lines defined by the parameter space arein the form of x=my+b. As used herein, this modification to the originalHough transform is referred to as a vertical SLIHT, and the originalHough transform is referred to as a horizontal SLIHT. Alternatively, thesensor image of the crop rows or furrows can be rotated (e.g., 90°) toreduce the vertical nature of lines corresponding to the crop rows orfurrows and allow the original Hough transform to be used. As usedherein, any Hough transform where the parameters are slope and interceptis SLIHT.

After applying the SLIHT to the sensor image, lines representing croprows or furrows can be determined by analyzing the sensor image. In anexample, the vanishing point can be determined by determining theintercept of two or more of these lines. In an example, the vanishingpoint can be determined by cascading the SLIHT. In the first parameterspace, the peaks representing the converging lines fall on a linethemselves in that parameter space. By applying the SLIHT to the firstparameter space to produce a second parameter space (known as cascadingthe SLIHT), a convergence peak in the second parameter space willrepresent that line. The coordinates of the convergence peak are thecoordinates of the vanishing point in the original sensor image with they parameter negated. Thus, the vanishing point can be determined bycascading the SLIHT. The determined vanishing point can provide thetrack-angle error because the horizontal displacement of the vanishingpoint is proportional to the tangent of the track-angle error. In anexample, the vanishing point can be used to determine the horizon inorder to adjust for errors introduced by the particular perspective ofthe sensor.

The cross-track distance is the distance between the current position ofthe agricultural equipment and the target row or furrow. Generally, thetarget row or furrow is that which is closest to the agriculturalequipment, although another may be selected. Because the crop rows aregenerally spaced an equal distance from each other, distances betweenmultiple lines representing the crop rows or furrows can be used toincrease accuracy by reducing errors in a given distance measurement.For example, a distance between each pair of peaks can be determined,such as between peaks 1 and 2, 1 and 3, 1 and 4, 2 and 3, 2 and 4, and 3and 4. These determined differences can be ordered based on theirvalues. The smallest distance can be considered the spacing between rowsor furrows. The largest spacing can be divided by the smallest spacingto determine the number of rows or furrows the largest determineddifference encompasses. In an example, the result of the division can berounded to the nearest integer to reflect the number of rows or furrows.The largest determined difference can be divided by the number of rowsor furrows that it encompasses. Thus, error in the measurement of thepeaks can be diffused among several row or furrow calculations, reducingits impact. In an example, only those peaks that fall on (within athreshold) the line represented by the convergence peak are consideredin the cross-track distance calculation. In an example, a resultingsingle crop-row-spacing value is approximately equal to the furrowspacing.

Once this calculation of the crop-row spacing in units of interceptpixels is complete, the differences in distance between a line from theagricultural equipment to the vanishing point, representing a line onthe field parallel to the crop rows, and the intercepts of crop rows orfurrows, modulo the crop-row spacing, can be used to determine thecross-track distance in units of the spacing in intercept pixels, thenscaled to the known spacing of the actual crop rows. In an example, apeak can be added in the first parameter space at a point on the linerepresented by the vanishing point peak, between other peaks at thepreviously determined crop-row spacing, in order to infer the targetcrop row position when it is interrupted. In another example, theresiduals of the intercept spacing of crop rows or furrow lines (firstparameter space peaks) in the sensor image, modulo the crop-row spacing,may be averaged in various ways to increase accuracy and to infer thetarget crop-row position when it is interrupted.

Using track-angle error and cross-track distance as variables to thesteering module can allow for an effective row guidance system ofagricultural equipment using computer vision. Thus, costs and error canbe reduced in performing an initialization operation for GPS basedsystems, or for automatic navigation of agricultural equipment when GPS,or other navigation systems, are unavailable. Additional details andexamples are provided below.

The previously described Hough transform technique for track-angle errorand cross-track distance calculations involve the calculation of one ormore intermediate values. For example, in the cross-track distancecalculation a collection of differences, represented as vectors, betweenthe camera intercept and line intercepts (e.g., as illustrated in FIG.13) can be combined into a mousetail representation and used as theintermediate value. In an example, the intermediate value can be acurrent vanishing point. The intermediate values can be used to generatea refined intermediate value to refine the outputs of the Houghtransform row guidance described herein. For example, the vector sumresulting from combining the difference vectors in the cross-trackdistance calculation may be adjusted—e.g., by manipulating a componentthat contributes to the vectors—to increase its magnitude, referred toherein as the “mousetail length,” resulting in a refined vector sum.Thus, the refined vector sum can be used in a feedback loop to adjustcontinent components to produce a better result. Accordingly, a moreaccurate, or refined, steering solution can be obtained.

In example, the current vanishing point can be an intermediate value.The position of the current vanishing point can be compared to that of ahistorical vanishing point. These two positions can be compared to yielda refined vanishing point. In an example, the historical vanishing pointcan be an average of previously determined current vanishing points. Inan example, comparing the positions can include measuring a distancebetween the two positions. The refined vanishing point may omit thecurrent vanishing point from various calculations (e.g., the currentmeasurement abandoned, from historical vanishing points, etc.) if themeasured distance is beyond a predetermined quality threshold. In thismanner, erroneous results may be identified and dealt with, againleading to refined steering solutions.

The processing of intermediate values into refined intermediate valuescan reduce errors in the described row guidance. Reduced errorsgenerally lead to more efficient operation of the mechanisms making useof the row guidance information.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a system 100 for row guidanceparameterization using SLIHT. The system 100 can include a scene module105, a transform module 110, and a steering parameter calculation module135 (which can include either of a track-angle error module 115 or across-track distance module 120). In an example, the system 100 can beaffixed to agricultural equipment and arranged to facilitate computervision navigation of the agricultural equipment.

The scene module 105 can be arranged to receive an electronicrepresentation of a field (ERF). The ERF can include any electronicrepresentation of the field, including, a digital image (raw orcompressed), a vector image, a collection of distance data (e.g., fromlaser range-finding, radar, etc.) translated into a digital image, orcombinations of these (e.g., a plurality of raster images from multiplesources and distance data). In an example, the ERF can be captured by asensor module 125 to which the scene module 105 is arranged tocommunicate. In an example, the sensor module 125 can include, or cancontrol, a plurality of sensors. In an example, the plurality of sensorsincludes a digital camera (e.g., video or still). In an example, adigital camera can include a filter to at least one of color bias thecaptured image, increase color contrast in the captured image, or reduceinformation (e.g., blur) in the captured image. An example of colorbiasing the captured image is that of a green crop planted in red-tintedsoil. A red-filter can be applied to a first sensor arranged to capturean image of the crops or a green filter can be applied to a secondsensor to capture an image of the furrows. Modifying the captured imageat the sensor can provide a cost-effective way to facilitate reducedprocessing or errors when using SLIHT, as discussed below.

The ERF can include a set of feature sets. A feature set is a set ofelements that can be distinguished from the ERF and represent somethingin the ERF. For example, a set of crop row features can include pixels,lines, other geometric shapes, colors, etc. from the ERF that represent(e.g., correspond to) crop rows in the ERF. In an example, the set offeature sets can include a set of crop row features. In an example, theset of feature sets can include a set of furrow features.

In an example, the scene module 105 can be arranged to receive a digitalimage of the field (e.g., from the sensor module 125) and apply atransform to the digital image to produce the ERF. Because SLIHToperates on pixels in the ERF, modifying the original source sensor datacan increase accuracy and efficiency. Accordingly, reducing the numberof pixels, or providing greater clarity as to which pixels apply to croprows or furrows, can facilitate SLIHT.

In an example, the transform can include color modeling. As used herein,color modeling is the manipulation of color information from the sensorinput to a model output. The model output can be arranged to permiteasier processing of various techniques described herein, such as SLIHT.For example, given green crops planted in brown soil, the colors of thesource digital image can be processed, for example, to increase thecontrast between these two features to better tell them apart. In anexample, adjustments can be made to address different lighting effects(e.g., lighting source color temperature or shadows) such that, forexample, shadowed crops can be recognized in the same manner asunshadowed crops.

In an example, color modeling can include color normalization. Colornormalization can include compensating for illumination variations(e.g., from shadows due to clouds, buildings, agricultural equipment,etc.) in the input information (e.g., removing brightness informationfrom un-normalized pixels without altering the hue). In an example, inthree dimensions, color normalization can include finding anintersection of color vector extensions having non-negative componentsand a surface (e.g., sphere, cube, plane, etc.). For example, a pixel'scolor can be represented as a Cartesian vector comprising non-negativecomponents emphasizing various wavelengths. The wavelengths can include,but are not limited to, red, green, and blue components of visiblelight, infrared light, and ultraviolet light. In an example, one or moreof the color vectors can be divided by the root-sum-square of theirrespective components. In this result, the color vectors are normalizedto an octant of a sphere. In an example, the one or more color vectorscan be divided by their respective largest components. In this result,the one or more color vectors are normalized to a cube with one cornerat the origin and sides aligned with the color-component axes. In anexample, the one or more color vectors can be divided by the sum oftheir respective components. In this result, the one or more colorvectors are normalized to an equilateral triangular segment of a planewith its corners symmetrically located on the color component axes. Inan example, the described normalizations can include projection of anormalized multi-dimensional color vector into a space of one fewerdimensions. For example, the described normalizations in three or moredimensions can include a two-dimension projection.

As previously described, the color modeling can also include resolvingthe colors in the source digital image to produce the ERF. For example,given the green crop, the colors that are not green can be reduced oreliminated and the contrast between the green and other colors can beincreased. In an example, the color resolving can include usingnormalized color component vectors (e.g., as described above). In anexample, the color resolving can include calculating the respective dotproduct of a normalized color vector with a respective radius vector ofa point on the periphery of the normalization surface (e.g., sphere,cube, plane, etc.) In an example, the dot product can be compared with athreshold value to determine if it is either a target color or not. Inan example, with two feature sets, thresholding can be performed on onefeature set (e.g., crop rows) to determine pixels pertinent to thatfeature set. Pixels pertinent to the second feature set can bedetermined by simply taking the complement to the results of the firstfeature set thresholding. In an example, the color vectors can beconverted to a single bit representing a pixel by the thresholding. Thethreshold can be one of an average, median, minimum, maximum, or othervalue of the resolved color component represented by the color vectors.

In an example, the color resolving can include mapping the color vectorsto a sphere where saturated colors are at the equator and white is atthe north pole (e.g., centered on a z-axis of the Cartesian colorspace). Three-dimensional color vectors from the center of the spherecan be used to ascertain pixel color values in the ERF to exaggeratecontrast between the colors. In an example, the color resolving caninclude projecting the color cube surfaces—created using the colordimension projections onto the color cube—isometrically to a regularhexagon and then onto a hemisphere circumscribing the hexagon, where thehemisphere's center is at the plane of the hexagon and forms the originof the projected color vectors of uniform magnitude.

In an example, the results of the color modeling (e.g., color vectorsresulting from one or more of the color normalization or the colorresolving) can be used to create one or more digital images comprisingthe ERF. In an example, individual digital images can be created foreach color, so as to produce an image for the green crop and anotherimage for the brown furrows. Other colors can be resolved for anyfeature set being considered. For example, instead of green, orange,pink, yellow, red, etc., can be resolved to identify a variety of crops.Further, in the case of distinctive soil (or other furrow material)colors, the distinctive color can be resolved. In this example, thecollection of digital images comprises the ERF.

In an example, the transform can include downsampling the digital image.Downsampling can include reducing the resolution of the source image byapplying one or more downsampling operations. In an example, thedownsampling operations can use the information from a plurality ofpixels to determine the value of a single downsampled pixel. In anexample, the plurality of pixels can be determined by their inclusion ina pixel mask applied to the source image and corresponding to thedownsampled pixel. For example, four pixels arranged in a square in thesource image can be combined to determine the value of the downsampledpixel centered in the square. In an example, the combination of thesource image pixels can include summing the source pixels. In anexample, the combination can include averaging the source pixels. In anexample, the result of the combination can be thresholded to determinethe final value of the downsampled pixel.

In an example, the downsampling operations can include distortioncorrection. For example, a circularly symmetric lens of a camera canproduce a circular distortion, centered in the source image, that causesa bowing effect known as a barrel distortion. This can be problematicwhen trying to determine positions for essentially straight crop rows orfurrows. In an example, the distortion correction can correct the lensdistortion. In an example, the distortion correction can choose sourceimage pixels in such a way as to correct the distortion in thedownsampled image. For example, independent multiplication of sourcepixel coordinates can be performed by an even function of the pixel'sradial distance from the center of the source image to determine thedownsampled pixel that will use the source pixel value. This correctsthe barrel distortion without using a square-root, because aneven-polynomial function approximation is equivalent to a polynomial inthe square of radial distance, which is the sum of the squares of thepixel coordinates.

In an example, the transform can include removing members of a featureset. As noted above, pixels in the source image are features in afeature set. For example, green pixels can be features in the featureset of crop rows where the crop is green. Also, as discussed previously,the SLIHT is performed using these features. Accordingly, reducing thenumber of features in a feature set can reduce computational complexityand thus reduce costs or increase performance of the system 100. In anexample, the relevant lines are centered on one of crop rows or furrows.Accordingly, data not relevant to the center of these features can beremoved. In an example, removing members of the feature set includesidentifying pixels on a color transition border and removing them fromthe feature set. For example, a green pixel next to a brown pixel (orblank pixel after removal) can be removed from the feature set. In anexample, the removal is performed when the pixel has a neighbor of thesame value and prevented otherwise. For example, a brown pixel with agreen pixel to its left and a brown pixel to its right can be removed.However, a brown pixel with a blank pixel to both its right and leftcannot be removed. This can prevent removal of pixels used to determinethe center of a feature. In an example, the removal neighbor isdetermined in a particular direction. In an example, the particulardirection is parallel to the intercept axis in the parameter space. Inan example, the particular direction is horizontal.

The transform module 110 can be arranged to produce a first parameterspace by performing a SLIHT on members of a feature set in the set offeature sets. The first parameter space includes a first slope parameterand a first intercept parameter. Producing the first parameter spaceusing SLIHT is described above. An example of the first parameter spaceis illustrated in FIG. 4 and described below. In producing the firstparameter space, a vertical SLIHT can be used when the orientation ofthe ERF is such that the crop rows or furrows are generally parallel tothe direction of the perspective represented in the ERF. In an example,a horizontal SLIHT can be used by rotating the ERF 90°. Unless otherwisestated, further examples refer to vertical SLIHT; however these examplesare generally applicable to horizontal SLIHT with SLIHT modifications.

The transform module 110 can also be arranged to identify peaks in thefirst parameter space. As previously described, parameter space peaksrepresent lines in the ERF. For example, if the crop row features areused, peaks in the first parameter space represent lines of crop rows inthe ERF. As described below, FIGS. 4 and 5 illustrate this relationship.Often, the first parameter space includes many values (e.g., buckets,pixels, etc.) of varying nature. That is, given a feature setrepresenting a wide crop row, more than one line of similar parameterscan fall within the feature. This produces clusters of parameter spacevalues. In an example, to determine a peak, parameter space values aremodified based on a threshold. For example, if the value is below athreshold, it is zeroed, or if it is above the threshold, it ismaximized. In an example, values above a threshold are grouped, and ageometric center of the group is used to identify the peak.

The transform module 110 can be arranged to produce a second parameterspace by performing the SLIHT on the peaks. That is, SLIHT is performedon the first parameter space using the peaks as input. Because the croprows and furrows converge to a vanishing point, the peaks in the firstparameter space fall on a line within that parameter space. Thus, thesecond parameter space includes a peak representing this line. This peakis a vanishing point peak that can be used to calculate the vanishingpoint in the ERF.

Adding more data points can increase the accuracy of calculating thevanishing point peak location using the second SLIHT. The additionaldata points can come from a second feature set. For example, if thefirst parameter space was derived from a crop row feature set, a furrowfeature set can be used to derive a third parameter space with peaksthat can also be used in the second SLIHT to produce the secondparameter space. In an example, to produce the second parameter space,the transform module 110 can be arranged to produce the third parameterspace by performing the SLIHT on members of a second feature set in theset of feature sets. In this example, the feature set and the secondfeature set are different members of the set of feature sets, such asthe crop row feature set and the furrow feature set. FIGS. 6 and 7illustrate the production of the third parameter space and correspondinglines in the ERF. The transform module 110 can be arranged to identifysecond peaks in the third parameter space and to adjust the secondparameter space with the output of performing SLIHT on the second peaks.Additional feature sets can be used while they represent lines thatintersect at the vanishing point. In an example, different feature setscan have different priorities such that they are processed first, or aregiven greater weight in the second SLIHT calculation.

The track-angle error module 115 can be arranged to calculate thevanishing point based on the vanishing point peak in the secondparameter space. As previously discussed, the vanishing point in the ERFcan be determined by the vanishing point peak. In fact, the x componentof the vanishing point peak in the second parameter space is the xcomponent of the vanishing point in the ERF and the y component of thevanishing point peak is the negated y component of the vanishing pointin the ERF. The following illustrates the relationship between thevanishing point peak and the vanishing point in the ERF:

The SLIHT H(p,q) of a line passing through points p and q in the ERF is:

${H\left( {p,q} \right)}_{y} = \frac{q_{x} - p_{x}}{q_{y} - p_{y}}$H(p, q)_(x) = p_(x) − p_(y) ⋅ H(p, q)_(y) = q_(x) − q_(y) ⋅ H(p, q)_(y)

To find the vanishing point in the ERF, two different crop rows (orfurrows) can be characterized by their x intercepts, p and q, and thevanishing point v, resulting in:

H(p, v)_(x) = p_(x)${H\left( {p,v} \right)}_{y} = \frac{v_{x} - p_{x}}{v_{y}}$H(q, v)_(x) = q_(x)${H\left( {q,v} \right)}_{y} = \frac{v_{x} - q_{x}}{v_{y}}$

The cascaded SLIHT, H (H(p,v),H(q,v)), of the line passing through thesepoints is:

${H\left( {{H\left( {p,v} \right)},{H\left( {q,v} \right)}} \right)}_{y} = {\frac{q_{x} - p_{x}}{\frac{v_{x} - q_{x}}{v_{y}} - \frac{v_{x\;} - p_{x}}{v_{y}}} = {- v_{y}}}$${H\left( {{H\left( {p,v} \right)},{H\left( {q,v} \right)}} \right)}_{x} = {p_{x} - {\frac{v_{x} - p_{x}}{v_{y}} \cdot {H\left( {{H\left( {p,v} \right)},{H\left( {q,v} \right)}} \right)}_{y}}}$$\begin{matrix}{{H\left( {{H\left( {p,v} \right)},{H\left( {q,v} \right)}} \right)}_{x} = \begin{matrix}{p_{x} - {\frac{v_{x} - p_{x}}{v_{y}} \cdot}} \\{H\left( {{H\left( {p,v} \right)},{H\left( {q,v} \right)}} \right)}_{y}\end{matrix}} \\{= {p_{x} - {\frac{v_{x} - p_{x}}{v} \cdot {- v_{y}}}}} \\{= v_{x}}\end{matrix}$Thus, the vanishing point coordinates in the ERF are those of thevanishing point peak with the y component negated.

Alternatively to producing the second parameter space, the track-angleerror module 115 can be arranged to plot the lines represented by thepeaks in the first parameter space onto the ERF and determine theirintersection. In this example, the intersection would be the vanishingpoint.

The track-angle error module 115 can be arranged to calculate atrack-angle error (track-angle error) from the vanishing point. The ERFmay be distorted from the actual field by, for example, the type ofsensor used and the perspective of the sensor. For example, the sensormay be positioned at a downward angle to provide a clearer perspectiveof the crop rows and furrows. This position, however, may splay croprows close to the sensor and constrict them towards the horizon. Becausethe sensor may change its angle with respect to the horizon (view dipangle) over time—for example, as it pitches up and down on unevenground—the effect of the splay may be indeterminate prior toascertaining the sensor's perspective with respect to the horizon.However, the vanishing point is located at the horizon and can providethe data necessary to adjust for the vertical sensor angle. In anexample, to calculate the track-angle error from the vanishing point,the track-angle error module 115 can be arranged to calculate the viewdip angle. As used herein, the view dip angle is the verticaldeclination of a sensor (e.g., an image capture device) from horizontalwhen an image of the field was taken. The track-angle error module 115can be arranged to modify the ERF-track-angle error using the view dipangle to adjust for distortions between elements of the image andcorresponding elements of the field. In an example, the following can beused to adjust for the distortions:

A horizontal plane through the sensor's point of view and the vanishingpoint contains a line segment from the point of view to the image. Theacross-track component of that line segment is the x component of thevanishing point in the image. The along-track component is thesquare-root of the squares of the unit distance from the point of viewto the image and the y component of the vanishing point in the image.Therefore, the ratio of the y component to the root-sum-square is thenegative of the tangent of track-angle error:

${\tan\;{TKE}} = \frac{- v_{x}}{\sqrt{1 + v_{y}^{2}}}$

In an example, the track-angle error module 115 can be arranged tocommunicate the track-angle error to a steering module 130. The steeringmodule 130 can be arranged to use the track-angle error as a variable toadjust approaches to the target (e.g., crop row).

The cross-track distance module 120 can be arranged to identify a subsetof peaks in the first parameter space based on a line in the firstparameter space defined by the vanishing point peak. This can provideprotection against an erroneously identified peak that does notrepresent a line intersecting the vanishing point. One such example isillustrated in FIGS. 6 and 7 and described below. In an example, wherethere are no erroneously identified peaks, the subset of peaks is equalto the set of peaks in the first parameter space. Third and subsequentparameter spaces and be treated in a like manner to eliminateerroneously identified peaks in those parameter spaces.

The cross-track distance module 120 can be arranged to calculate a setof intermediate intercept differences between lines represented bymembers in the subset of peaks. These intercept differences can becalculated on a cross-track distance line. The cross-track distance lineis any line intersecting the lines represented by the subset of peaks.In an example, the cross-track distance line is parallel to theintercept axis parameter of the parameter space. For example, in thevertical SLIHT, the intercept axis is the x axis. The line parallel tothe x axis can be the axis itself, or another. In an example, the lineparallel to the intercept axis is the bottom of the ERF in verticalSLIHT and the corresponding edge of the ERF (e.g., right or leftdepending on rotation) in horizontal SLIHT. Generally, the moreperpendicular the cross-track distance line is to the lines representedby the subset of peaks, the better the results become.

In an example, intermediate intercept differences can be calculated toreduce error. The calculation to reduce error can include determining adifference between one or more, up to every, pairs of members in thesubset of peaks. For example, if the subset of peaks includes peak1,peak2, peak3, and peak4, the following differences (e.g., differencesbetween corresponding lines intercepting the cross-track distance line)can be calculated (peak1, peak2), (peak1, peak3), (peak1, peak4),(peak2, peak3), (peak2, peak4), and (peak3, peak4). The results fromadjacent peaks can be binned together. For example, the pairs (peak1,peak3) and (peak2, peak4) can be binned together. In an example, thedifferences in each bin can be averaged to determine a single value forthe bin.

The cross-track distance module 120 can be arranged to calculate asingle intercept difference in the ERF based on the set of intermediateintercept axis differences. The difference (or bin) that is the smallestof the intermediate intercept differences can be used to represent asingle spacing (e.g., between either crop rows or furrows). Thenext-larger difference (or bin) can be divided by the single spacing todetermine a ratio. This ratio can represent the number of elementsencompassed by that next-larger difference. In an example, the ratio canbe rounded to the nearest integer. For example, if the ratio between thesmallest and the next-larger difference is calculated to be 1:3.347, itcan be rounded to 1:3; and that next-larger difference can be consideredto encompass three crop rows. The next-larger difference can be dividedby the number of elements it encompasses to arrive at a refined estimateof the intercept difference. By performing this division, error in theintermediate intercept differences is diffused across the elementsencompassed by the next-larger difference, resulting in reduced errorfor the cross-track distance calculation. In an example, this refinedestimate of the smallest difference is used again to divide thedifference next-larger yet than the difference just used, to furtherrefine the single-difference estimate. The process is repeated bydividing by the estimate, rounding, and dividing the larger differenceby the rounded quotient, using progressively larger differences untilthe largest is used. This has the advantage of reducing the chance oferring in the rounding operation as might happen if the very largestdifference were divided right off by the relatively noisy initialestimate of the smallest difference. Thus, the generally equal spacebetween the features (e.g., crop rows) can be determined and accuracyenhanced by combining the various data points from the first parameterspace peaks. In an example, the above can also be applied to the thirdand subsequent parameter spaces to, for example, determine the distancebetween furrows.

The cross-track distance module 120 can be arranged to calculate thecross-track distance based on the single intercept axis difference. Inan example, the cross-track distance module 120 can be arranged tocalculate a camera intercept on the cross-track distance line for a linepassing through both the vanishing point and a camera position (positionline). The cross-track distance module 120 can be arranged to calculatea set of differences where each member of the set of differences is adifference between the camera intercept and an intercept on thecross-track distance line for lines represented by the subset of peaksin the first parameter space. In an example, the cross-track distancemodule 120 can be arranged to apply a modulus operation to each memberof the set of differences using the single intercept difference as avariable to produce a set of results and combine the members of the setof results. The modulus operation can use the respective resultantdifferences and the single intercept axis difference. In an example, theresults can be averaged to determine the cross-track distance.

An example modulus operation can include summing vectors representingeach peak in the subset of peaks in the first parameter space where eachvector's angle is the distance between the respective line's interceptand that of the camera intercept scaled 360° per the single interceptdifference. Thus, a second line away from the position line would bescaled 720°. The cross-track distance can be calculated by summing thevectors. In an example, a similar operation can be applied to the subsetof peaks in the third parameter space to produce respective vectors. Toaccount for the intermediate position of, for example, furrowsrepresented in the third parameter space between crop rows representedin the first parameter space, an additional 180° can be applied to the360° scaling described above. The cross-track distance is the angle ofthe vector sum.

In an example, the cross-track distance module can be arranged todetermine, from the first parameter space, a missing peak based on theline represented by the vanishing point peak and the single interceptdifference. For example, the subset of peaks should be spaced on thevanishing point peak line by the single intercept difference. If twopeaks are spaced by a multiple greater than one on the vanishing pointpeak line, one or more missing peaks can be inferred at intervals of thesingle intercept difference along the vanishing point peak line. In anexample, these missing peaks can be added to the subset of peaks in thefirst parameter space. In an example, after adding the missing peaks,the cross-track distance can be the difference between the cameraintercept and the closest intercept of lines represented by the subsetof peaks. Using the modulus operation or replacing missing peaks canprovide continuity to agricultural equipment navigation by inferring thecross-track distance to the target even if the target is momentarilyinterrupted (e.g., obscured, broken, etc.).

In an example, to calculate the cross-track distance, the cross-trackdistance module 120 can be arranged to apply a set of scalingoperations. In an example, intermediate results can be scaled to theERF. In an example, the scaling can include scaling from units ofspacing (e.g., swath spacing) to units of distance. In an example, thescaling can include scaling by the cosine of the track-angle error.

In an example, the cross-track distance module 120 can be arranged tocommunicate the cross-track distance to the steering module 130. Thesteering module 130 can be arranged to use the cross-track distance as avariable to adjust approaches to the target (e.g., crop row).

The steering parameter calculation module 135 can use the parameterspace determinations of the transform module 110 described above tocalculate one or more variables used to steer a vehicle. Track-angleerror and cross-track distance are two example steering variables (eachdescribed above with respect to the track-angle error module 115 andcross-track distance module 120).

The steering parameter calculation module 135 can be arranged to selectan intermediate value used in calculating the steering variables. Thatis, the intermediate value is calculated by way of arriving at thesteering variable.

In an example, the intermediate value can be a mousetail magnitude froma plurality of mousetail magnitudes computed for the steering variablecalculation. Each of the plurality of mousetail magnitudes are amagnitude of a sum of vectors. In an example, the vectors each have anangle representing a distance of a corresponding line intercept from acamera intercept represented in a first parameter space of the cascadedHough transform, such as those illustrated in FIG. 11.

The steering parameter calculation module 135 can be arranged toidentify a refined intermediate value from the intermediate value bymeasuring a difference between the intermediate value and an anchorvalue. In an example, the anchor value can be a combination of one ormore previously calculated intermediate values. In an example, thecombination of one or more previously calculated intermediate values canbe an average of the one or more previously calculated intermediatevalues. In an example, the intermediate value can be a current vanishingpoint. A current vanishing point is the vanishing point initiallydetermined in a given steering variable calculation. In an example, theanchor value can be an averaging of one or more previous vanishingpoints, such as those calculated in previous steering variablecalculations. Thus, in these examples, the difference is measuredbetween the current vanishing point and a combination of previousvanishing points.

In an example, measuring the intermediate value to the anchor value caninclude: determining a difference between the intermediate value and theanchor value; and comparing the difference to a threshold. For example,again using vanishing points, the difference between the currentvanishing point and the combination of previous vanishing points can bea distance. Any measurement can be used between the at least two points,such as root sum of squares, sum of squares, upon which a deviation ofthe intermediate value from the anchor value can be ascertained. Oncethe distance is determined, the distance can be compared to thethreshold. In an example, the threshold is calibrated to the distancemeasurement used (e.g., a root sum of squares threshold and a sum ofsquares threshold).

In an example, identifying the steering variable can include rejectingthe intermediate value when its difference to the anchor value is beyondthe threshold. In an example, rejecting the intermediate value caninclude falling back on a previous intermediate value as the refinedintermediate value. For example, the combination of previous vanishingpoints can be used as the refined intermediate value.

In an example, the anchor value can be a previous intermediate valuewithin a same steering variable calculation. For example, the anchorvalue can be the greatest mousetail magnitude of a plurality ofmousetail magnitudes within the same steering variable calculation. Inan example, identifying the refined intermediate value can includemodifying a component that contributes to a vector in the set of vectorsdescribed above. If changing these components results in a longermousetail, the longer mousetail is the refined intermediate value.Example constituent components can include the color selection variablesfor rows, bright spot thresholding in the Hough parameter spaces, etc.In an example, a noise inducing mechanism, such as dithering, can beapplied to the original constituent component values to result inmodifying the respective component values. Thus, in an example,variables in earlier processing can be optimized based on a degree ofagreement by dithering a specific variable to be optimized from acentral (e.g., initial) value and changing the specific variable (e.g.,slowly) in the direction which produces a greater degree of agreement.In an example, the central value of the specific variable is increasedaccording to a monotonically increasing function of the resulting degreeof agreement when the dither direction is positive and decreased whenthe dither direction is negative.

The steering parameter calculation module 135 can be arranged to adjustthe steering variable calculation used the refined intermediate value.In an example, adjusting the steering variable calculation can includeabandoning a current calculation and starting over. This example mayoccur when, for example, a vanishing point is beyond a tolerancethreshold from previous vanishing points, suggesting an unacceptableerror in the steering variable calculation. In an example, where theintermediate and anchor values are intra calculation as opposed to theinter calculation relationship described above with respect to vanishingpoints, adjusting the steering variable can include completing thesteering variable calculation with the modified components, for example,that resulted in a longer mousetail.

FIGS. 2A-10 illustrate an example of the previously described featuresof the system 100. In this example, the feature sets are crop rowfeatures and furrow features.

FIG. 2A illustrates a top-down view of a vehicle 205 (e.g., agriculturalequipment) in a field. The field includes crop rows 210 and furrows 215.The line 220 represents the center line of a crop row and the line 225represents the current orientation of the vehicle 205. The angle 230 isthe track-angle error and the distance 235 is the cross-track distance.The vehicle 205 includes a sensor 240 arranged to produce a sourceimage.

FIG. 2B illustrates a profile view of the vehicle 205 in the field. Theline 245 represents the vertical orientation of the vehicle 205 withrespect to the horizon and the angle 250 is the current view dip angleof the sensor 240.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of an ERF 300. The ERF 300 includes thehorizon 310, crop rows 210 (shaded), and furrows 215 (white). Alsoillustrated is a shading effect 305 represented by the diagonal stripes.As discussed above, the shading effect 305 can be removed via colormodeling (e.g., color normalization).

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a Hough transform parameter space forcrop rows 400 (e.g., the first parameter space). For clarity theparameter space 400 is simplified to three values: dark, lightly shaded,and white. The dark values represent few pixels in the ERF 300 for theline represented by the parameter space position, the lightly shadedrepresents a medium number of pixels, and the white represents a highnumber of pixels. As described above, clusters of medium and highpositions can be merged to determine the peaks 405A-405E. The line 410illustrates that the peaks 405A-405E lie on a single line (and thusconverge).

FIG. 5 illustrates an example of determined crop row lines superimposedon the ERF 300 to produce an ERF 500. The crop row lines 505A-505Ecorrespond to the respective peaks 405A-405E. The sensor position 510relative to the ERF 500 is also shown.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example of a Hough transform parameter space forfurrows 600 (e.g., the third parameter space). The peaks 605A-605D aredetermined in the same manner described above with respect to FIG. 4.Also, the line 610 similarly demonstrates the convergence of linesrepresented by the peaks 605A-605D. The peak 605E illustrates anerroneously identified peak. Because the peak 605E does not lie on theline 610, it will not be considered in future cross-track distancecalculations.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example of determined furrow lines superimposed onthe ERF 300 to produce an ERF 700. The furrow lines 705A-705E correspondto the respective peaks 605A-605E. Note that the line 705E does notcorrespond to either a crop row 210 or a furrow 215, nor does itconverge with the other lines 705A-705D. Thus, the line 705E should beexcluded from future calculations.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example of a Hough transform parameter space 800of the Hough transform parameter spaces for crop rows 400 and furrows600. The peak 805 represents both the lines 410 and 610. The collectionof values 810 illustrates the result of the erroneous peak 605E from theparameter space 600.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example 900 of determined crop row lines505A-505E, furrow lines 705A-705D, and vanishing point 905 superimposedon the ERF 300 to produce an ERF 900. From this data, the track-angleerror and cross-track distance can be determined as described above withrespect to FIG. 1.

FIG. 10 illustrates an example 10000 of determining a distance between acurrent vanishing point and combination of previous vanishing. Thecurrent vanishing point 1005 is offset from the combination of previousvanishing points 1010 by the distance 1015. It is to this distance thatthe threshold is compared as described above with respect to FIG. 1.

FIG. 11 illustrates an example of a graph 1100 for cross-track distancenormalization. Specifically, a rotational modulus operation isillustrated. The vectors 1105 represent the 360° scaled angulardifference of crop row intercepts to the camera intercept. The vector1110 is the sum of the vectors 1105. Similarly, the vectors 1115represent the scaled furrow row differences to the camera intercept,before being rotated by an additional 180°, and the vector 1120 is theirsum. As evident in the illustration, applying a 180° rotation to vectors1115, or to vector 1120, causes these vectors to generally align withthe vectors 1105 and vector 1120. In an example, all vectors 1105, 1110,1115, and 1120 can be summed to produce the cross-track distance.

FIG. 12 illustrates an example 1200 of mousetail analysis to refine rowguidance parameterization. The vectors 1210 are placed end-to-end toillustrate the mousetail intermediate value with the mousetail magnitude1205. Vectors 1220 illustrate a mousetail, with mousetail magnitude1215, after a constituent component to the vectors is modified. Asillustrated, the second mousetail magnitude 1215 exceeds that of thefirst mousetail magnitude 1205 by a difference 1225. Thus, the greaterlength of the second mousetail would lead to incorporation of themodified constituent components into the row steering calculation.

FIG. 13 illustrates an example of a method 1300 for row guidanceparameterization with Hough transform. One or more components describedabove can be used to perform one or more operations of the method 1300.Other capable hardware can be used to perform one or more operations ofthe method 1300.

At operation 1305, an ERF can be received. The ERF can include a set offeature sets. The set of feature sets can include at least one of a setof crop row features and a set of furrow features. In an example,receiving the ERF can include receiving a digital image of the field. Atransform can be applied to the digital image to produce the ERF. In anexample, the transform can include color modeling. In an example, thetransform can include downsampling. In an example, the downsampling caninclude image distortion correction. In an example, the transformincludes removing members of a feature set.

At operation 1310, a first parameter space can be produced by performinga SLIHT on members of a feature set in the set of feature sets. Thefirst parameter space can include a first slope parameter and a firstintercept parameter.

At operation 1315, peaks in the first parameter space can be identified.

At operation 1320, a second parameter space can be produced byperforming the SLIHT on the peaks. In an example, producing the secondparameter space can include producing a third parameter space byperforming the SLIHT on members of a second feature set in the set offeature sets. The feature set and the second feature set are differentmembers of the set of feature sets. Second peaks can be identified inthe third parameter space and the second parameter space can be adjustedwith the output of performing SLIHT on the second peaks.

At operation 1325, a vanishing point can be calculated based on avanishing point peak in the second parameter space. Alternatively, anintersection between lines represented by any plurality to all of thepeaks and the second peaks can be used to calculate the vanishing pointwithout producing the second parameter space and corresponding vanishingpoint peak.

At operation 1330, a track-angle error can be calculated from thevanishing point. In an example, calculating the track-angle error fromthe vanishing point can include calculating a view dip angle. The viewdip angle is the vertical declination of a sensor (e.g., an imagecapture device) from horizontal when a source image of the field wastaken. An ERF-track-angle error can be modified using the view dip angleto adjust for distortions between elements of the source image andcorresponding elements of the field.

FIG. 14 illustrates an example of a method 1400 for determining across-track distance. One or more components described above can be usedto perform one or more operations of the method 1400. Other capablehardware can be used to perform one or more operations of the method1400.

At operation 1405, a subset of peaks can be identified in the firstparameter space based on a line in the first parameter space defined bythe vanishing point peak.

At operation 1410, a set of intermediate intercept differences can becalculated from member pairs in the subset of peaks. The interceptdifferences can be calculated on a cross-track distance line.

At operation 1415, a single intercept difference can be calculated inthe ERF based on the set of intermediate intercept axis differences.

At operation 1420, a cross-track distance can be calculated based on thesingle intercept axis difference. In an example, calculating thecross-track distance can include applying a set of scaling operations.In an example, a camera intercept on the cross-track distance line for aline passing through both the vanishing point and a camera position canbe calculated. A set of differences can be calculated. Each member ofthe set of differences is a difference between the camera intercept andan intercept for a line represented by a member of the subset of peaksin the first parameter space. In an example, a modulus operation can beapplied to each member of the set of differences using the singleintercept difference as a variable to produce a set of results. Themembers of the set of results can then be combined.

In an example, the combination or the set of results can includeaddition of a corresponding set of vectors, each of whose angles, as afraction of a complete circle, represents the distance, as a fraction ofthe average spacing between the intercepts for the lines represented bythe peaks in the first parameter space, the distance between theintercept for the line represented by an individual peak and the cameraintercept. The angle of the vector sum corresponds to the cross-trackdistance value that is the consensus, modulo the row spacing, of the setof results; and the magnitude of the sum is a measure of the degree ofagreement among the results. In an example, the magnitudes of allvectors may be the same or may be weighted to vary the influence of theindividual peaks on the result. The set of vectors can be drawn end toend and referred to as the mousetail (such as shown in FIG. 12) and themagnitude of the sum of all vectors is the mousetail length. Themousetail length can be used to adjust any of the constituent components(e.g., variables) used earlier in the steering calculation such that itmaximizes the mousetail length. For example the color resolvingdiscussed above in FIG. 1, can be adjusted based on the mousetail lengthby dithering the threshold to be optimized from a central value andchanging it slowly in the direction which produces the greater mousetaillength, as, for example, increasing the central value slightly by amonotonically increasing function of the resulting mousetail length whenthe dither direction is positive and decreasing the central value by thesame monotonically increasing function when the dither direction isnegative.

FIG. 15 illustrates an example of a method 1500 for refined row guidanceparameterization with Hough transform, according to an embodiment.

At operation 1505 an ERF can be received.

At operation 1510 a steering variable calculation can be performed via acascaded Hough transform on the ERF.

At operation 1515 an intermediate value used in calculating the steeringvariable can be selected.

At operation 1520 a refined intermediate value can be identified bymeasuring a difference between the intermediate value and an anchorvalue.

At operation 1525 the steering variable calculation can be adjustedusing the refined intermediate value.

The vanishing point example discussed above with respect to FIG. 1 andapplied to the operations 1505-1525 can be rephrased as follows:

As noted above, track-angle error can be calculated from the vanishingpoint that is the peak in the second Hough transform. The vanishingpoint is often the most sensitive value to errors introduced in earlierprocessing. These errors can be detected by looking for large suddenchanges in the vanishing point position by comparing the distance of thecurrent vanishing point from an average of recent vanishing points tothe average of recent vanishing point distances and rejecting any beyonda predetermined threshold. For example: let V_(i) represent the currentvanishing point position (x,y) and V_(u) represent the average of recentvanishing point positions. Let d_(i) represent the distance of V_(i)from V_(u) and let d_(u) represent the average of recent distancesd_(i-1) . . . d_(i-n). The averaging method and length can vary based onthe application. d_(i) is calculated by:√{square root over (d _(i)=(V _(i)(x)−V _(u)(x))²+(V _(i)(y)−V_(u)(y))²)}The vanishing point is accepted if d_(i)<k*d_(u) where k is apredetermined threshold >1. The current distance d_(i) and vanishingpoint V_(i) are then included in the averages regardless of acceptanceto protect against (e.g., avoid) comparing a new vanishing point only toold information (e.g., to address an unmeasured change in the system).Similar methodology can be used for other data elements in the solutionsuch as the cross track distance.

FIG. 16 illustrates a block diagram of an example machine 1600 uponwhich any one or more of the techniques (e.g., methodologies) discussedherein may perform. In alternative embodiments, the machine 1600 mayoperate as a standalone device or may be connected (e.g., networked) toother machines. In a networked deployment, the machine 1600 may operatein the capacity of a server machine, a client machine, or both inserver-client network environments. In an example, the machine 1600 mayact as a peer machine in peer-to-peer (P2P) (or other distributed)network environment. The machine 1600 may be a personal computer (PC), atablet PC, a set-top box (STB), a personal digital assistant (PDA), amobile telephone, a web appliance, a network router, switch or bridge,or any machine capable of executing instructions (sequential orotherwise) that specify actions to be taken by that machine. Further,while only a single machine is illustrated, the term “machine” shallalso be taken to include any collection of machines that individually orjointly execute a set (or multiple sets) of instructions to perform anyone or more of the methodologies discussed herein, such as cloudcomputing, software as a service (SaaS), other computer clusterconfigurations.

Examples, as described herein, may include, or may operate on, logic ora number of components, modules, or mechanisms. Modules are tangibleentities (e.g., hardware) capable of performing specified operationswhen operating. A module includes hardware. In an example, the hardwaremay be specifically configured to carry out a specific operation (e.g.,hardwired). In an example, the hardware may include configurableexecution units (e.g., transistors, circuits, etc.) and a computerreadable medium containing instructions, where the instructionsconfigure the execution units to carry out a specific operation when inoperation. The configuring may occur under the direction of theexecutions units or a loading mechanism. Accordingly, the executionunits are communicatively coupled to the computer readable medium whenthe device is operating. In this example, the execution units may be amember of more than one module. For example, under operation, theexecution units may be configured by a first set of instructions toimplement a first module at one point in time and reconfigured by asecond set of instructions to implement a second module.

Machine (e.g., computer system) 1600 may include a hardware processor1602 (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit(GPU), a hardware processor core, or any combination thereof), a mainmemory 1604 and a static memory 1606, some or all of which maycommunicate with each other via an interlink (e.g., bus) 1608. Themachine 1600 may further include a display unit 1610, an alphanumericinput device 1612 (e.g., a keyboard), and a user interface (UI)navigation device 1614 (e.g., a mouse). In an example, the display unit1610, input device 1612 and UI navigation device 1614 may be a touchscreen display. The machine 1600 may additionally include a storagedevice (e.g., drive unit) 1616, a signal generation device 1618 (e.g., aspeaker), a network interface device 1620, and one or more sensors 1621,such as a global positioning system (GPS) sensor, compass,accelerometer, or other sensor. The machine 1600 may include an outputcontroller 1628, such as a serial (e.g., universal serial bus (USB),parallel, or other wired or wireless (e.g., infrared (IR), near fieldcommunication (NFC), etc.) connection to communicate or control one ormore peripheral devices (e.g., a printer, card reader, etc.).

The storage device 1616 may include a machine readable medium 1622 onwhich is stored one or more sets of data structures or instructions 1624(e.g., software) embodying or utilized by any one or more of thetechniques or functions described herein. The instructions 1624 may alsoreside, completely or at least partially, within the main memory 1604,within static memory 1606, or within the hardware processor 1602 duringexecution thereof by the machine 1600. In an example, one or anycombination of the hardware processor 1602, the main memory 1604, thestatic memory 1606, or the storage device 1616 may constitute machinereadable media.

While the machine readable medium 1622 is illustrated as a singlemedium, the term “machine readable medium” may include a single mediumor multiple media (e.g., a centralized or distributed database, and/orassociated caches and servers) configured to store the one or moreinstructions 1624.

The term “machine readable medium” may include any medium that iscapable of storing, encoding, or carrying instructions for execution bythe machine 1600 and that cause the machine 1600 to perform any one ormore of the techniques of the present disclosure, or that is capable ofstoring, encoding or carrying data structures used by or associated withsuch instructions. Non-limiting machine readable medium examples mayinclude solid-state memories, and optical and magnetic media. In anexample, a massed machine readable medium comprises a machine readablemedium with a plurality of particles having invariant (e.g., rest) mass.Accordingly, massed machine-readable media are not transitorypropagating signals. Specific examples of massed machine readable mediamay include: non-volatile memory, such as semiconductor memory devices(e.g., Electrically Programmable Read-Only Memory (EPROM), ElectricallyErasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM)) and flash memorydevices; magnetic disks, such as internal hard disks and removabledisks; magneto-optical disks; and CD-ROM and DVD-ROM disks.

The instructions 1624 may further be transmitted or received over acommunications network 1626 using a transmission medium via the networkinterface device 1620 utilizing any one of a number of transferprotocols (e.g., frame relay, internet protocol (IP), transmissioncontrol protocol (TCP), user datagram protocol (UDP), hypertext transferprotocol (HTTP), etc.). Example communication networks may include alocal area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a packet datanetwork (e.g., the Internet), mobile telephone networks (e.g., cellularnetworks), Plain Old Telephone (POTS) networks, and wireless datanetworks (e.g., Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)802.11 family of standards known as Wi-Fi®, IEEE 802.16 family ofstandards known as WiMax®), IEEE 802.15.4 family of standards,peer-to-peer (P2P) networks, among others. In an example, the networkinterface device 1620 may include one or more physical jacks (e.g.,Ethernet, coaxial, or phone jacks) or one or more antennas to connect tothe communications network 1626. In an example, the network interfacedevice 1620 may include a plurality of antennas to wirelesslycommunicate using at least one of single-input multiple-output (SIMO),multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), or multiple-input single-output(MISO) techniques. The term “transmission medium” shall be taken toinclude any intangible medium that is capable of storing, encoding orcarrying instructions for execution by the machine 1600, and includesdigital or analog communications signals or other intangible medium tofacilitate communication of such software.

Additional Notes & Examples

Example 1 can include subject matter (such as a method, means forperforming acts, or machine readable medium including instructions that,when performed by a machine cause the machine to performs acts)comprising receiving an electronic representation of a field (ERF)including a set of feature sets—the set of feature sets including atleast one of a set of crop row features and a set of furrow features,producing a first parameter space by performing a slope-intercept Houghtransform (SLIHT) on members of a feature set in the set of featuresets—the first parameter space including a first slope parameter and afirst intercept parameter, identifying peaks in the first parameterspace, producing a second parameter space by performing the SLIHT on thepeaks, calculating a vanishing point based on a vanishing point peak inthe second parameter space, and calculating a track-angle error(track-angle error) from the vanishing point.

In Example 2, the subject matter of Example 1 can optionally includewherein producing the second parameter space includes producing a thirdparameter space by performing the SLIHT on members of a second featureset in the set of feature sets—the feature set and the second featureset being different members of the set of feature sets, identifyingsecond peaks in the third parameter space, and adjusting the secondparameter space with the output of performing SLIHT on the second peaks.

In Example 3, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 1-2 canoptionally include, wherein receiving the ERF includes receiving adigital image of the field, and applying a transform to the digitalimage to produce the ERF.

In Example 4, the subject matter of Example 3 can optionally include,wherein the transform includes color modeling.

In Example 5, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 3-4 canoptionally include, wherein the transform includes downsampling.

In Example 6, the subject matter of Example 5 can optionally include,wherein the downsampling includes image distortion correction.

In Example 7, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 3-6 canoptionally include, wherein the transform includes removing members of afeature set.

In Example 8, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 1-7 canoptionally include, wherein calculating the track-angle error from thevanishing point includes calculating a view dip angle, the view dipangle being the vertical declination of an image capture device fromhorizontal when an image of the field was taken, the ERF being derivedfrom the image of the field, and modifying an ERF-track-angle errorusing the view dip angle to adjust for distortions between elements ofthe image and corresponding elements of the field.

In Example 9, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 1-8 canoptionally include, identifying a subset of peaks in the first parameterspace based on a line in the first parameter space defined by thevanishing point peak, calculating a set of intermediate interceptdifferences from member pairs in the subset of peaks, the interceptdifferences calculated on a cross-track distance line, calculating asingle intercept difference in the ERF based on the set of intermediateintercept differences, and calculating a cross-track distance(cross-track distance) based on the single intercept difference.

In Example 10, the subject matter of Example 9 can optionally include,wherein calculating the cross-track distance includes applying a set ofscaling operations.

In Example 11, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 9-10can optionally include, wherein calculating the cross-track distanceincludes calculating a camera intercept on the cross-track distance linefor a line passing through both the vanishing point and a cameraposition, and calculating a set of differences, each member of the setof differences being a difference between the camera intercept and anintercept for a line represented by a member of the subset of peaks inthe first parameter space, applying a modulus operation to each memberof the set of differences using the single intercept difference as avariable to produce a set of results, and combining the members of theset of results.

Example 12 can include, or may optionally be combined with the subjectmatter of any one of Examples 1-11 to include subject matter (such as amodule, device, apparatus row guidance parameterization with Houghtransform) comprising a scene module arranged to receive an electronicrepresentation of a field (ERF) including a set of feature sets—the setof feature sets including at least one of a set of crop row features anda set of furrow features. The subject matter can also comprise atransform module arranged to produce a first parameter space byperforming a slope-intercept Hough transform (SLIHT) on members of afeature set in the set of feature sets—the first parameter spaceincluding a first slope parameter and a first intercept parameter,identify peaks in the first parameter space, and produce a secondparameter space by performing the SLIHT on the peaks. The subject mattercan also comprise a track-angle error module arranged to calculate avanishing point based on a vanishing point peak in the second parameterspace, and calculate a track-angle error (track-angle error) from thevanishing point.

In Example 13, the subject matter of Example 12 can optionally include,wherein to produce the second parameter space includes the transformmodule arranged to produce a third parameter space by performing theSLIHT on members of a second feature set in the set of feature sets—thefeature set and the second feature set being different members of theset of feature sets, identify second peaks in the third parameter space,and adjust the second parameter space with the output of performingSLIHT on the second peaks.

In Example 14, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 12-13can optionally include, wherein to receive the ERF includes the scenemodule arranged to receive a digital image of the field, and apply atransform to the digital image to produce the ERF.

In Example 15, the subject matter of Example 14 can optionally include,wherein the transform includes color modeling.

In Example 16, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 14-15can optionally include, wherein the transform includes downsampling.

In Example 17, the subject matter of Example 16 can optionally include,wherein the downsampling includes image distortion correction.

In Example 18, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 14-17can optionally include, wherein the transform includes removing membersof a feature set.

In Example 19, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 12-17can optionally include, wherein to calculate the track-angle error fromthe vanishing point includes the track-angle error module arranged tocalculate a view dip angle, the view dip angle being the verticaldeclination of an image capture device from horizontal when an image ofthe field was taken—the ERF being derived from the image of the field,and modify an ERF-track-angle error using the view dip angle to adjustfor distortions between elements of the image and corresponding elementsof the field.

In Example 20, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 12-19can optionally include a cross-track distance module arranged toidentify a subset of peaks in the first parameter space based on a linein the first parameter space defined by the vanishing point peak,calculate a set of intermediate intercept differences from member pairsin the subset of peaks—the intercept differences calculated on across-track distance line, calculate a single intercept difference inthe ERF based on the set of intermediate intercept differences, andcalculate a cross-track distance (cross-track distance) based on thesingle intercept difference.

In Example 21, the subject matter of Example 20 can optionally include,wherein to calculate the cross-track distance includes the cross-trackdistance module arranged to apply a set of scaling operations.

In Example 22, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 20-21can optionally include, wherein to calculate the cross-track distanceincludes the cross-track distance module arranged to calculate a cameraintercept on the cross-track distance line for a line passing throughboth the vanishing point and a camera position, and calculate a set ofdifferences, each member of the set of differences being a differencebetween the camera intercept and an intercept for a line represented bya member of the subset of peaks in the first parameter space, apply amodulus operation to each member of the set of differences using thesingle intercept difference as a variable to produce a set of results,and combine the members of the set of results.

The above detailed description includes references to the accompanyingdrawings, which form a part of the detailed description. The drawingsshow, by way of illustration, specific embodiments that may bepracticed. These embodiments are also referred to herein as “examples.”Such examples can include elements in addition to those shown ordescribed. However, the present inventors also contemplate examples inwhich only those elements shown or described are provided. Moreover, thepresent inventors also contemplate examples using any combination orpermutation of those elements shown or described (or one or more aspectsthereof), either with respect to a particular example (or one or moreaspects thereof), or with respect to other examples (or one or moreaspects thereof) shown or described herein.

All publications, patents, and patent documents referred to in thisdocument are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety, asthough individually incorporated by reference. In the event ofinconsistent usages between this document and those documents soincorporated by reference, the usage in the incorporated reference(s)should be considered supplementary to that of this document; forirreconcilable inconsistencies, the usage in this document controls.

In this document, the terms “a” or “an” are used, as is common in patentdocuments, to include one or more than one, independent of any otherinstances or usages of “at least one” or “one or more.” In thisdocument, the term “or” is used to refer to a nonexclusive or, such that“A or B” includes “A but not B,” “B but not A,” and “A and B,” unlessotherwise indicated. In the appended claims, the terms “including” and“in which” are used as the plain-English equivalents of the respectiveterms “comprising” and “wherein.” Also, in the following claims, theterms “including” and “comprising” are open-ended, that is, a system,device, article, or process that includes elements in addition to thoselisted after such a term in a claim are still deemed to fall within thescope of that claim. Moreover, in the following claims, the terms“first,” “second,” and “third,” etc. are used merely as labels, and arenot intended to impose numerical requirements on their objects.

The above description is intended to be illustrative, and notrestrictive. For example, the above-described examples (or one or moreaspects thereof) may be used in combination with each other. Otherembodiments can be used, such as by one of ordinary skill in the artupon reviewing the above description. The Abstract is to allow thereader to quickly ascertain the nature of the technical disclosure, forexample, to comply with 37 C.F.R. §1.72(b) in the United States ofAmerica. It is submitted with the understanding that it will not be usedto interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims. Also, in theabove Detailed Description, various features may be grouped together tostreamline the disclosure. This should not be interpreted as intendingthat an unclaimed disclosed feature is essential to any claim. Rather,inventive subject matter may lie in less than all features of aparticular disclosed embodiment. Thus, the following claims are herebyincorporated into the Detailed Description, with each claim standing onits own as a separate embodiment. The scope of the embodiments should bedetermined with reference to the appended claims, along with the fullscope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled.

What is claimed is:
 1. A machine-readable medium that is not atransitory propagating signal, the machine-readable medium includinginstructions that, when executed by a machine, cause the machine toperform operations comprising: receiving an electronic representation ofa field (ERF); performing a steering variable calculation based on theERF; selecting an intermediate value used in the steering variablecalculation; identifying a refined intermediate value from theintermediate value by: measuring a difference between the intermediatevalue and an anchor value; and rejecting the intermediate value when thedifference is beyond a threshold and keeping the intermediate valueotherwise; and adjusting the steering variable calculation using therefined intermediate value including abandoning the steering variablecalculation in response to a rejection of the intermediate value.
 2. Themachine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the combination of one ormore previously calculated intermediate values is an average of the oneor more previously calculated intermediate values.
 3. Themachine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the intermediate value is acurrent vanishing point, wherein the anchor value is a combination ofprevious vanishing points, and wherein the difference between theintermediate value and the anchor value is a distance between thecurrent vanishing point and the combination of previous vanishingpoints.
 4. The machine-readable medium of claim 3, wherein the distanceis determined by at least one of sum of squares, root sum of squares, orsum of absolute values.
 5. The machine-readable medium of claim 3,wherein the threshold is calibrated to a mechanism used to determine thedistance.
 6. The machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein theintermediate value is a mousetail magnitude from a plurality ofmousetail magnitudes computed for the steering variable calculation,each of the plurality of mousetail magnitudes being a magnitude of a sumof vectors, the vectors each having an angle representing a distance ofa corresponding line intercept from a camera intercept represented in afirst parameter space of cascaded Hough transform used to perform thesteering variable calculation; wherein the anchor value is a greatestmousetail magnitude of the plurality of mousetail magnitudes within thesteering variable calculation; and wherein identifying the refinedintermediate value includes modifying a component that contributes to avector of the vectors to produce the refined intermediate value, therefined intermediate value being a mousetail magnitude not less than theanchor and greater than the intermediate value.
 7. The machine-readablemedium of claim 6, wherein the component is a second threshold used toclassify pixels in the ERF.
 8. The machine-readable medium of claim 7,wherein the second threshold is a color threshold used to distinguishbetween crop pixels and furrow pixels.
 9. A machine-implemented methodcomprising: receiving an electronic representation of a field (ERF);performing a steering variable calculation; selecting an intermediatevalue used in calculating the steering variable; identifying a refinedintermediate value from the intermediate value by: measuring adifference between the intermediate value and an anchor value; andrejecting the intermediate value when the difference is beyond athreshold and keeping the intermediate value otherwise; and adjustingthe steering variable calculation using the refined intermediate valueincluding abandoning the steering variable calculation in response to arejection of the intermediate value.
 10. The method of claim 9, whereinthe combination of one or more previously calculated intermediate valuesis an average of the one or more previously calculated intermediatevalues.
 11. The method of claim 9, wherein the intermediate value is acurrent vanishing point, wherein the anchor value is a combination ofprevious vanishing points, and wherein the difference between theintermediate value and the anchor value is a distance between thecurrent vanishing point and the combination of previous vanishingpoints.
 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the distance is determinedby at least one of sum of squares, root sum of squares, or sum ofabsolute values.
 13. The method of claim 11, wherein the threshold iscalibrated to a mechanism used to determine the distance.
 14. The methodof claim 9, wherein the intermediate value is a mousetail magnitude froma plurality of mousetail magnitudes computed for the steering variablecalculation, each of the plurality of mousetail magnitudes being amagnitude of a sum of vectors, the vectors each having an anglerepresenting a distance of a corresponding line intercept from a cameraintercept represented in a first parameter space of a cascaded Houghtransform used to perform the steering variable calculation; wherein theanchor value is a greatest mousetail magnitude of the plurality ofmousetail magnitudes within the steering variable calculation; andwherein identifying the refined intermediate value includes modifying acomponent that contributes to a vector of the vectors to produce therefined intermediate value, the refined intermediate value being amousetail magnitude not less than the anchor and greater than theintermediate value.
 15. The method of claim 14, wherein the component isa second threshold used to classify pixels in the ERF.
 16. The method ofclaim 15, wherein the second threshold is a color threshold used todistinguish between crop pixels and furrow pixels.
 17. A systemcomprising: a scene module arranged to receive an electronicrepresentation of a field (ERF); and a steering parameter calculationmodule arranged to: perform a steering variable calculation based on theERF; select an intermediate value used in calculating the steeringvariable; identify a refined intermediate value from the intermediatevalue including the steering parameter calculation module to: measure adifference between the intermediate value and an anchor value; andreject the intermediate values when the difference is beyond a thresholdand keep the intermediate value otherwise; and adjust the steeringvariable calculation using the refined intermediate value including thesteering parameter calculation module to abandon the steering variablecalculation in response to a rejection of the intermediate value. 18.The system of claim 17, wherein the combination of one or morepreviously calculated intermediate values is an average of the one ormore previously calculated intermediate values.
 19. The system of claim17, wherein the intermediate value is a current vanishing point, whereinthe anchor value is a combination of previous vanishing points, andwherein the difference between the intermediate value and the anchorvalue is a distance between the current vanishing point and thecombination of previous vanishing points.
 20. The system of claim 19,wherein the distance is determined by at least one of sum of squares,root sum of squares, or sum of absolute values.
 21. The system of claim19, wherein the threshold is calibrated to a mechanism used to determinethe distance.
 22. The system of claim 17, wherein the intermediate valueis a mousetail magnitude from a plurality of mousetail magnitudescomputed for the steering variable calculation, each of the plurality ofmousetail magnitudes being a magnitude of a sum of vectors, the vectorseach having an angle representing a distance of a corresponding lineintercept from a camera intercept represented in a first parameter spaceof a cascaded Hough transform used to perform the steering variablecalculation; wherein the anchor value is a greatest mousetail magnitudeof the plurality of mousetail magnitudes within the steering variablecalculation; and wherein to identify the refined intermediate valueincludes the steering parameter calculation module arranged to modify acomponent that contributes to a vector of the vectors to produce therefined intermediate value, the refined intermediate value being amousetail magnitude not less than the anchor and greater than theintermediate value.
 23. The system of claim 22, wherein the component isa second threshold used to classify pixels in the ERF.
 24. The system ofclaim 23, wherein the second threshold is a color threshold used todistinguish between crop pixels and furrow pixels.